<p>The aim of this study is to examine which factors in the receiving-country that have had an influence on three now adult unaccompanied refugee children. The method used in the study is qualitative interviews with the three above-mentioned participants. The results show that some factors are perceived as helpful, having a positive influence on the participants life while other factors are perceived as worsening, having a negative influence on their life. Depending on the context some factors such as age, the Swedish language and housing arrangements have had both positive and negative influences on their life. Positive factors are among other things: access to good treatment and support, help with processing trauma and bad mental health, help with understanding coherence, access to a social network, family reunification, resilience and other internal factors. Negative factors are among other things: loneliness, feeling of powerlessness, mistakes made by public authority and “the long waiting” until they get a residence permit. The results correspond with previous research findings but have also originated new knowledge that can be added on the current field of research. The results have furthermore been analyzed with theories of risk and resilience, coping and sense of coherence.</p><p>Keywords: unaccompanied refugee children, unaccompanied children, asylum-seeking children /young adolts/adolecenses/minors, resilience, risk and protective factors, coping, sense of coherence (SOC)</p>

The aim of this study is to examine which factors in the receiving-country that have had an influence on three now adult unaccompanied refugee children. The method used in the study is qualitative interviews with the three above-mentioned participants. The results show that some factors are perceived as helpful, having a positive influence on the participants life while other factors are perceived as worsening, having a negative influence on their life. Depending on the context some factors such as age, the Swedish language and housing arrangements have had both positive and negative influences on their life. Positive factors are among other things: access to good treatment and support, help with processing trauma and bad mental health, help with understanding coherence, access to a social network, family reunification, resilience and other internal factors. Negative factors are among other things: loneliness, feeling of powerlessness, mistakes made by public authority and “the long waiting” until they get a residence permit. The results correspond with previous research findings but have also originated new knowledge that can be added on the current field of research. The results have furthermore been analyzed with theories of risk and resilience, coping and sense of coherence. Keywords: unaccompanied refugee children, unaccompanied children, asylum-seeking children /young adolts/adolecenses/minors, resilience, risk and protective factors, coping, sense of coherence (SOC)

På grund av oroligheter i världen skedde under år 2015 en kraftig ökning av asylsökande, där ibland även ensamkommande barn. Ökning av ensamkommande barn medförde en boendeproblematik för Sveriges kommuner, vilket lett till behov av flertalet nyuppstartade HVB-hem. Det fanns ett intresse av att studerades hälsofrämjande aktiviteter i kontexten, detta för att förstå dem som en del av en hälsodiskursiv praktik. Detta gjordes utifrån ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande, diskurs analys samt ett helhetsperspektiv på hälsa. Därav har studien genomförts som kvalitativ studie med inspiration ifrån etnografisk forskning. Deltagande observationer utfördes vid tre tillfällen. Observationerna utfördes på två olika avdelningar på ett HVB- hem för ensamkommande pojkar. Genom ett hälsopedagogiskt perspektiv var avsikten med studien att synliggöra hälsodiskurser och dess betydelse för ungdomarnas lärande och skapande av hälsa. Kategorierna för studiens analyserade resultat återspeglar de hälsofrämjande aktiviteter som observerades. Teman för diskussionsdelen framanalyserats med utgångspunkt i studiens valda teorier och utföll i följande sex kategorier: Tidspassning, Vi och dem, Laganda och att ha trevligt ihop, Minskad förtäring av sötsaker, Regelföljning och självständighet samt Dubbla budskap. Av resultatet framkom det att den rådande hälsodiskursen tycks bygga på ett omedvetet helhetsperspektiv på hälsa. Det framkommer genom personalens utsagor att en strävans finns mot att skapa förutsättningar för att ungdomarna att utvecklas till självständiga individer, dock strider detta mot vad som kan ses i den hälsodiskursiva praktiken. Därav kan det tänkas att hälsa är ett ämne som kan behöva lyftas i praktiken. Då det var svårt att hitta relevant forskning i ämnet tycks även behov finnas av att bedriva forskning kring hur insatser på HVB-hem bör utformas för att uppnå ökad självständighet hos ungdomarna. / 2015 saw a sharp rise in unaccompanied children seeking asylum. This is due to turmoil in many parts of the world. The rise has brought housing problems for Sweden’s municipalities, with more housing and treatment facilities started as a result. A study was conducted, motivated by ethnography research. Participants were observed on three occasions, in two separate wards in a HVB resident for unaccompanied boys. Health promoting activities were observed, to gain an understanding of them for use from a pedagogic perspective. This was done using a sociocultural perspective in teaching, study analysis, as well as health in general. Through a health discourse perspective, the purpose of the study was to analyze health awareness in the children. The categories for the analysed results reflected the health promoting activities that were encouraged during the study. The study was analysed using the following six categories Punctuality, Us and them, Team spirit and getting along, Reduced sugar consumption, Following rules and independence, as well as Double standards. The results showed that the current health discourse is founded on a subconsciously overall perspective on health. Housing and HVB resident staff have the aim to create possibilities for the children to develop into independent individuals. It can be seen as a field that needs to be improved in practice, through staff education. Relevant data is lacking, further research is needed into what action is required to help the children reach independence.

The thesis examines accompanied asylum-seeking children’s position in Swedish asylum reception management and in the determination of their claims. The three articles of the thesis focus on children’s own experiences of seeking asylum, on the experiences and practices of the civil servants at the Migration Board, as well as those of the legal representatives that assist asylum-seekers in the application process. The thesis builds on ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2008 and 2010 in southwest Sweden. Theoretical inspiration has been sought in the new sociology of childhood as well as in practice theory. The first article in the thesis concerns children’s caseworkers who are responsible for safeguarding children’s interests in the Migration Board’s daily work with reception. The study highlights a range of dilemmas caseworkers have to deal with in their role as frontline bureaucrats. The study shows that the children’s caseworkers often perceive their discretion as limited, but also that they themselves contribute to limiting it, for example due to their hesitation in challenging existing norms and collegiality.    The second article examines the ways in which legal representatives, who act on behalf of families in asylum determinations, in their practice perceive and relate to the concept of children’s best interests and children’s right to participate. The study shows that children in families can become invisible in the legal representatives’ daily rounds. This invisibility is due to practical limitations in the representatives’ work as well as a general view that children rarely have their own grounds for asylum, as separate claimants to their parents. The third paper of the thesis explores the ways in which children experience and seek to influence circumstances that signify their time spent as asylum-seekers. The study shows how the children developed a range of tactics to deal with their particular situations, which varied with their housing and schooling, and the family’s financial resources. The conclusion is that the children themselves are the primary representatives of the child perspective in the asylum-seeking process, not least through their struggle to belong and create a life like that of ’ordinary’ children.  In line with previous research in the field, the thesis points to the contradiction between the principle of regulated migration and the child perspective in the asylum-seeking process. Together with practical circumstances, such as lack of resources, this contradiction results in a more limited implementation of the child perspective than rules and regulations actually stipulate. Finally, the thesis points to the active role asylum-seeking children take in their efforts to create an everyday life that is as similar as possible to that of  the ’ordinary’ children (e.g. non asylum-seeker and permanently settled children) around them. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Submitted.</p>

<p>The aim of this study was to examine how the social services could investigate and support children of irregular immigrants within the boundaries of the law. More specifically it aimed to examine the legal possibilities and obstacles for the social services to support irregular immigrants, how the officials at the social services act considering the legal aspects, and how they reason morally and ethically when dealing with irregular immigrants. To answer the aim of the study the theory of positive law was used combined with qualitative interviews with two officials at the social services. Moreover a small quantitative telephone study with officials in the social services and with voluntary organizations was made. The study has used theories of sociology of law, law and ethics, and professional (civil) disobedience. The conclusions were that children of irregular immigrants are included by the Swedish law for social services, but are hindered from getting support by the legal obligation to inform the police authorities when the social services are dealing with foreigners who did not apply for a residence permit. There is a need for the officials to be extra committed in such cases and they break the obligation to inform to be able to support the children.</p>

<p>Den 1 Mars 2006 ersattes den gamla UtlL (1989:529) av en ny UtlL (2005:716) med stora förändringar i instans- och processordningen. De grundläggande kraven på denna var att öppenheten i asylprocessen skulle öka, att de sökande skulle ges ökade möjligheter till muntlig förhandling vid överklagande av asyl- och medborgarskapsärenden, att processen skulle bestå av en tvåpartsprocess och att instans- och processordningen skulle utformas så att kraven på skyndsam handläggning uppfylldes.</p><p>I denna uppsats har rättssäkerheten för den asylsökande vid prövning av dess asylärende i den nya instans- och processordningen undersökts. Huvudfrågan lyder som följer; säkerställs rättssäkerheten i Sverige för skyddssökande vid prövning av asylärenden i den nya instans- och processordningen?</p><p>Utredning i den här uppsatsen leder till slutsatsen att rättssäkerheten i svensk asylrätt är beroende av att rådande rättsprinciper moderniseras. Offentlighetsprincipen måste tydligare särskiljas från sekretessen. Domstolarna måste beläggas med hårdare sekretesskrav och Migrationsverkets meddelandeskyldighet måste klargöras så att den sökande alltid kan få besked om skälen bakom ett beslut.</p> / <p>On March 1, 2006, the former alien’s act (1989:529) was replaced by a new alien’s act (2005:716) with major changes in the order of authority and the order of process. When the new alien’s act was developed the fundamental requirement in the legislation consisted of an increased openness in the asylum process where the applicants were to be given the possibility to verbal negotiation while appealing asylum and citizenship dossiers. Furthermore the procedure was to be comprised of a two party process and the order of authority and the order of process were to be formulated so that the requirement of rapid processing was met. This essays main issue is; is the legal security ensured for persons seeking asylum in Sweden when investigating their dossiers in the new order of authority and the new order of process?</p><p>The investigation leads to the conclusion that the legal security in the Swedish asylum right is depending on the modernization of prevailing court principles. The principle of free access to official records must be separated from secrecy and stricter demands of secrecy must be imposed on the courts. Finally the Swedish Migration Board's obligation to keep the applicants informed of the reasons behind a decision must be clarified.</p>

Den 1 Mars 2006 ersattes den gamla UtlL (1989:529) av en ny UtlL (2005:716) med stora förändringar i instans- och processordningen. De grundläggande kraven på denna var att öppenheten i asylprocessen skulle öka, att de sökande skulle ges ökade möjligheter till muntlig förhandling vid överklagande av asyl- och medborgarskapsärenden, att processen skulle bestå av en tvåpartsprocess och att instans- och processordningen skulle utformas så att kraven på skyndsam handläggning uppfylldes. I denna uppsats har rättssäkerheten för den asylsökande vid prövning av dess asylärende i den nya instans- och processordningen undersökts. Huvudfrågan lyder som följer; säkerställs rättssäkerheten i Sverige för skyddssökande vid prövning av asylärenden i den nya instans- och processordningen? Utredning i den här uppsatsen leder till slutsatsen att rättssäkerheten i svensk asylrätt är beroende av att rådande rättsprinciper moderniseras. Offentlighetsprincipen måste tydligare särskiljas från sekretessen. Domstolarna måste beläggas med hårdare sekretesskrav och Migrationsverkets meddelandeskyldighet måste klargöras så att den sökande alltid kan få besked om skälen bakom ett beslut. / On March 1, 2006, the former alien’s act (1989:529) was replaced by a new alien’s act (2005:716) with major changes in the order of authority and the order of process. When the new alien’s act was developed the fundamental requirement in the legislation consisted of an increased openness in the asylum process where the applicants were to be given the possibility to verbal negotiation while appealing asylum and citizenship dossiers. Furthermore the procedure was to be comprised of a two party process and the order of authority and the order of process were to be formulated so that the requirement of rapid processing was met. This essays main issue is; is the legal security ensured for persons seeking asylum in Sweden when investigating their dossiers in the new order of authority and the new order of process? The investigation leads to the conclusion that the legal security in the Swedish asylum right is depending on the modernization of prevailing court principles. The principle of free access to official records must be separated from secrecy and stricter demands of secrecy must be imposed on the courts. Finally the Swedish Migration Board's obligation to keep the applicants informed of the reasons behind a decision must be clarified.

The aim of this study was to examine how the social services could investigate and support children of irregular immigrants within the boundaries of the law. More specifically it aimed to examine the legal possibilities and obstacles for the social services to support irregular immigrants, how the officials at the social services act considering the legal aspects, and how they reason morally and ethically when dealing with irregular immigrants. To answer the aim of the study the theory of positive law was used combined with qualitative interviews with two officials at the social services. Moreover a small quantitative telephone study with officials in the social services and with voluntary organizations was made. The study has used theories of sociology of law, law and ethics, and professional (civil) disobedience. The conclusions were that children of irregular immigrants are included by the Swedish law for social services, but are hindered from getting support by the legal obligation to inform the police authorities when the social services are dealing with foreigners who did not apply for a residence permit. There is a need for the officials to be extra committed in such cases and they break the obligation to inform to be able to support the children.

Här presenteras ett ramverk för beslutsanalytisk metod baserad på principen om maximering av den förväntade nyttan gällande värdering av olika alternativ för åldersbedömning av ensamkommande inom asylprocessen. Med detta ramverk som utgångspunkt görs en jämförelse mellan ett antal metoder (mognad hos visdomstand, knäled och handled samt Rättsmedicinalverkets metod baserad på både visdomstand och knäled) för medicinsk åldersbedömning. Dessa metoder jämförs vidare med tre referensalternativ (i) lita på den ensamkommandes åldersuppgifter vilket i praktiken innebär att bedöma alla som barn, (ii) bedöma alla ensamkommande som vuxna och (iii) det absurda alternativet att singla slant för att avgöra vem som är barn eller vuxen. Det som behövs för beslutsanalysen är antaganden och/eller skattningar på åldersfördelningen av ensamkommande som åldersbedöms samt skattning för de olika metoderna på hur stor sannolikheten är att en person bedöms som vuxen givet den faktiska åldern. Vidare krävs en kvantifiering av nyttan för en felklassificering av en vuxen, då en felklassificering av ett barn antas ge lägst nytta och en korrekt klassificering antas ge högst nytta. Åldersfördelningen av ensamkommande som åldersbedöms antas här bestå av en kombination av två likformiga och kontinuerliga fördelningar, där intervallen är 15-18 år (barn) respektive 18-21 år (vuxna). Två nyttomodeller undersöks, en diskret som endast tar hänsyn till om individen är barn eller vuxen samt en kontinuerlig linjär nyttomodell som tar hänsyn till åldersskillnaden från 18-årsgränsen vid en felklassificering. De genomförda analyserna demonstrerar hur ramverket kan användas i praktiken. Givet de antaganden som gjorts är slutsatsen att det alternativ som ger högst förväntad nytta i stor utsträckning beror på prevalensen (andelen vuxna) tillsammans med hur nyttan för en felklassificerad vuxen värderas. Oavsett värdering, vid prevalens nära 0 bör alla bedömas som barn, för att när prevalensen ökar ersättas ersättas av en metod som i stor utsträckning klassificerar barn korrekt, när prevalensen ökar ytterligare ersättas av en metod som i större utsträckning klassificerar vuxna korrekt och slutligen när prevalensen är nära 1 bör alla bedömas som vuxna. / A framework for a decision analysis method that is based on the principle of maximization of the expected utility regarding alternatives of age assessment for unaccompanied asylum seekers is here presented. Using the framework, different methods (dental, knee joint, hand wrist and the method used by The National Board of Forensic Medicine (RMV) that combines the methods for dental och knee joint) for medical age assessment are compared. These methods are further compared with three benchmark alternatives, (i) to trust the age given by the unaccompanied asylum seeker which results that all are considered to be children, (ii) to consider all the unaccompanied asylum seekers as adults and (iii) the absurd alternative to flip a coin to decide who is a child or an adult. For the decision analysis, assumptions and/or estimates for the age distribution of the unaccompanied refugees are needed and estimates for the different methods regarding how probably it is to be considered an adult given the actual age. The outcome of a child that is incorrectly classified is assumed to give the lowest utility and a correct classification (both children and adult) is assumed to give the highest utility. The utility of the outcome of an adult that is incorrectly classified as a child needs to be quantified. The age distribution of unaccompanied refugee, considered for age assessment is here assumed to be a combination of two continuous uniform distributions, with the interval 15-18 years (child) and 18-21 years (adult). Two utility models are examined, a discrete model that only consider if the individual is a child or an adult and a continuously linear utility model that consider the age difference from 18 years given an incorrect classification. The analyzes carried out demonstrates how the framework can be used in practice. Given the assumptions that are made the conclusion is that the alternative that gives the highest expected utility depends on the prevalence (proportion of adults) together with the valuation of the utility for an incorrect classified adult. Regardless of the valuation, when the prevalence is close to 0 all should be considered to be children, when the prevalence increases should be replaced with a method that largely classifies children correct when the prevalence is further increased should be replaced with a method that largely classifies adults correct and finally, when the prevalence is close to 1 all should be considered as adults.

This study examines the view on integration in Sweden. The material consists of debate articles from 2020 regarding exempting Malmö from EBO, the law on the right for asylum seekers to arrange their own housing. The findings reveal two dominating positions representing different views on successful integration: the municipalities’ right to self-government and the individual’s right to self-determination. The municipal position and politicians who represent the municipalities interests are mainly represented, while no interest groups or asylum seekers are active in the debate. The municipal position reproduces a negative view on integration and reproduces the discourse of failed integration. The individual position tries to change the negative discourses. Lastly, the dominating position moves towards an assimilatory approach, implying a shift in the view on integration in Sweden. This study contributes with an updated analysis of the perception of EBO and increases the knowledge about views on integration in Sweden.